This invention relates generally to inker wheels for use with rotary type, article marking apparatus and more particularly, provides an inker wheel construction capable of being assembled into plural different size assemblies from a pair of plastic molded machinable parts, thus materially reducing the cost of manufacture of the assemblies, enabling the reduction of standing inventory, and, as well, affording a considerable reduction in weight without loss in functionality.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,047,479 there is described an article coding device for imprinting indicia upon successive articles traveling upon a conveyor reach at an imprinting location along that reach. The article marking apparatus per se includes a train of wheels each carrying an ink absorbent ring for the transfer of ink from a source via the train of rollers ultimately to type font carried by an imprinting wheel.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,126,090 there is described an inking ring and wheel for code daters wherein the ring is an annular band of ink adsorbent material seated permanently in an annular channeled sheel of thin ink impervious material. The ring is mountable upon the hub of a wheel for rotation therewith. The particular inking ring is of advantage in that one may grasp the same without soiling the hands because of the channled shell. It also is disposable, a factor of considerable advantage. The ring has a degree of resilience which enables it to be applied to the hub of the wheel and disassembled therefrom easily.
The inking rings of the type concerned are manufactured and employed on many different article marking machines for varying different applications. Different ring sizes both diametric and in width are required. Different wheels or mountings for these rings are necessary for use of different sized inking rings. Generally, prior inking wheels comprise hub members, often discs of wood or the like on which the ring is mounted and a pair of plates fastened on opposite sides of the hub to define a channel or like purchase for receiving the ring thereupon so that the ring rotates with the wheel. Often, the wheels comprise carefully and precisely machined stainless steel discs, the cost of which is substantial. Each different width and different diameter ring employed requires its own mounting wheel. Thus, a considerable stock of different size wheels is required to be carried as inventory. Not only does one require the manufacture of such plural wheels, but in view of the weight and necessity for fine machining, the inventory is required even for sizes which may be used only occasionally, say when a perhaps unlikely need may arise.
It would be highly desirable to eliminate the need to inventory a large number of different size mounting wheels on the chance that the use of one or the other may arise. It would be desirable to provide a wheel structure which could be formed of a so-called universal part, or a minimum number of parts, when and if their specific use is required. In such case and at such demand, the universal parts could be fabricated easily, perhaps even on the site of the article marking machine, with ordinary use of ordinary skill and simple operational step by those generally without the skill of the skilled machinist or tool maker.
It would also be advantageous to reduce the cost and weight of the wheels and enable their versatile use. If plural parts can be formed from a single master part, and if the procedure could be performed inexpensively, rapidly and results in a wheel structure equal or better functionally than the prior precisely machined wheels, considerable savings can be encountered.
One of the advantages of the said patented inking rings was that only the stock of rings are required to be carried without the need for carrying plural assembled inking wheels as often required today. However, different size inking rings still are required. Greater advantage could be taken of the benefits of using the patented disposable inking rings if one could avoid the need to carry an inventory of differently dimensioned wheels, and particularly, if the inking wheel could be selected as necessary and could be fabricated of standard parts at the site of the installation without requiring skilled expensive labor and materials, and which would permit the wheel to be formed on site when the need therefor arises and from standardized and minimum number of parts.